April 2009 Archives

I've had a rather busy but very enjoyable Saturday. It first started off with meeting up with J&E and the kids A&M to head off to church to get them baptized. I'm no fan of churches - well the building themselves ain't the problem but the religious demagogy is something that really rubs me the wrong way - but since it seemed to be important for some, I showed up. After all I'm the godfather of A and I doubt that he's old enough to fully grasp my aversion and views on religion.

I know that by just showing up I was "supporting" the whole event, let's not go there. I was there because of the kids. It was important for them, hence important for me and that's what counts.

After listening to a bunch of Jebus - as Homer would call the man - yadda yadda, A&M got blessed with holy water and became children of god. Headed back to their place and soon after parted ways as there were other things to do for everyone.

I tried making sure I'd have a table for 4 at Trinacria around 18h00 but was met by a "open at 17h30" sign at the door. I took a gamble and let the others know that we would be having real Italian Pizza around six and texted them the address to meet me at. They showed up right on time and I think they were all rather pleased with the food.

We walked about two blocks to arrive at the venue where Katinka Polderman would be presenting her new "Polderman kachelt door" show. Loads of fun, small chuckles as well as laughter rolling as thunder depending on her way to bring comedy. She has clearly evolved a lot since her first show and while definitely different, it is not better or worse. From her first show - which I caught on TV - I recall the wittiness and very direct way of telling things, and this has now been replaced with (more) subtlety and finesse.

This means you have to really pay attention to get every joke and subtle play on words but it is oh so rewarding when you become one with the flow and pick up all the layers that are hidden in her songs and stories. Katinka manages to bring a show - we all were impressed with her vocal abilities - with lots of songs and if you close your eyes while she brings them, you just picture what she describes. The sign of either a vivid imagination or very capable performer if you ask me.

I went to see Watchmen last night. Fast and Furious 4 was also a contender for my attention - featuring the incredibly hot Michelle Rodriguez - but when I arrived I decided to follow my instinct and pick the lesser known movie in which none of the actors sounded familiar. I definitely haven't regretted my choice as Watchmen is so much more than a fight between good and evil, right or wrong.

For those who've seen Iron Man last year, I found the atmosphere to be similar which is a good thing as I enjoyed that movie a lot as well.

Back to Watchmen however : the movie is an adaptation of a DC Comic book series published in 1986-87 that features the rise and fall of a gang of super heroes in the 1940's and 1960's. I have never read those comics, nor did I have any background knowledge about these heroes as I sat down. It didn't take me long to realize that Watchmen is not just another Hollywood creation where Good triumphs over Evil and everything is well - there's a dark side in everyone and sometimes in order to do good, you have to be bad and lies can be necessary to create a truth more fitting to the world.

Plenty of special effects and visual roller coasters, but I could easily see through that flimsy layer of eye candy to dive into the background and really get to know our super heroes who turn out to be as human - or inhuman - as you and I.

I usually prefer to watch women over watching men but this a 2 hours and 41 minutes of my time well spent.

Situation : One of the busiest days of the year due to it being the 1st working day of a shut down that was started on Friday evening.

Mood : Stressed and tired. Been working 10 days straight (no days off, that's what straight means, folks). Have been dealing with idiots all night long. When people forget shit, they expect us to come up with a magical solution. When I forget things, I tend to find a solution myself or go back home to pick up whatever I forgot. I guess I'm special... wait, maybe they call it responsible?

Guess what? My colleague decides to sleep in and not to show till 7AM. My shift normally ends at 6. Thanks a lot for picking today to tell the world to go to hell and have your beauty sleep. Thanks a lot for making sure I get stuck in traffic and have to deal with a bunch of morons that don't know the back from the front of their car until they had 7 cups of coffee - which they clearly haven't had looking at how they "drive".

I've been thinking about what option to pick for a couple of minutes, but finally reached a decision : I'll first run over to the bakery to pick up fresh pistolets and head off to bed after. See you all later tonight.

Note : I hope to be sending out a mail concerning next Saturday soon so you can stop wondering whether I forgot :)

Day 7 : I tried staying up late last night, but totally failed. Crashed around 9PM and woke up at 8AM. It'll prove quite challenging to stay awake tonight while working the graveyard shift. Hopefully my colleague is talkative, lol.

While heading home today, I decided to stop over at that place I mentioned yesterday to take some notes. I was surprised though to find no more trace of phone number or real estate agency name at the site. Have I been dreaming? I sure hope not because it would mean I've been driving around while asleep and that can't be good.

I did find get some extra information, just by taking a good look at the site : it seems to have been a gas station before, and it's currently being sanitized to remove all traces of gas oil and such from the soil. It seems in a worse condition then I previously assumed as well - can't confirm it though as I haven't been in. Don't think this will turn out to be a project that I can or want to take on after all.

It's one thing to have a vision or to "see" potential, but then there's reality to be taken into account.

5 days of work past me, another 5 to go - I'm half way through and so far I'm feeling good. Will need all the rest I can get, so I won't be making it too late tonight.

When I arrived at work this morning, it turned out I had not lost one team member, but two. Another one became ill - in fact he came to work over the weekend while he could (should?) have stayed home - and will be out till the 19th. My other colleague will be returning on the Friday so I'll be covering his shift on Thursday night. Yeah, it means I'll be working 10 days straight but sometimes you have do what is needed. It'll also mean more cash at the end of the month, although I don't necessarily need it, it could always come in handy...

While driving to work I once again drove past a building that has piqued my interest for a couple of days now. I think I may briefly pull over tomorrow to write down some contact details and see if I can find some information online as well. I could just call the agency to find out more, but that would be too simple, wouldn't it? To be continued!

It's pretty quiet at work right now, even for a Sunday. No doubt it has a lot to do with the fact that Monday is a public holiday and most people will be enjoying an extra day off from work. Starting Tuesday I expect things to get progressively more hectic though, reaching a height on Monday the 20th after which it'll remain busy till the 9th of May when the first shut-down should be completed. It is however immediately followed by a second unit shutting down starting May 16th till the third week of June. While these periods are always stressful and busy, this year will prove even more difficult due to a lot of newcomers that have but 3 months of experience under their belts on this site.

As has been the case in the past, some will quickly learn the ropes and find their own way, others will struggle for weeks and give up in the end and then there's always those who try to offload their responsibilities and tasks onto others. These shut-down periods are excellent opportunities to learn, improve and get more experienced which will make the everyday job much more manageable as well.

Note/update : I just got news that I've lost another team member for close to a week due to a medical condition that required urgent attention. Get well soon, buddy!

Sorry about temporarily taking the site offline - an euphemism for breaking the damn thing - but as I was toying around in my .htaccess files an error was made which resulted in an internal server error 500. Should be fixed now though.

I've been running tests during the week to determine why my IP range ban wasn't working as expected. Only today I was able to identify a second IP range in use that is also blocked now. I am well aware that IP bans are easily avoided, but for the time being, it'll do I suppose.

For one reason or another quite a few people I met today were pissed off and not too happy. I also got rather disappointed in a certain someone which resulted in me stating a few changes that would be effective immediately, much to her dislike.

As if that was not enough, I was put into a situation where I had to talk to that same person again about something that had occurred, and once again I was disappointed by her response. In fact after hearing the answer and the way it was given, I ended the conversation abruptly and told her there was nothing more to talk about.

I'll be talking to my direct superior tomorrow - I'm going in early - to see what he thinks should be done. I'd hate to see a fine colleague be forced to leave the team, but I don't feel like letting people get away with things they've been warned about before either. I could have just let it all go, but I fear that's not in my nature : if my team members or I make a mistake I'm calling them on it, and would like to be called on it too.

Right now, I wouldn't even know what I'd do if I had the option to decide on the outcome, so I'll be consulting with a superior who will have to make the call. If you think that's an easy way out, think again. I will still need to face myself - and my peers - and be able to look them all in the eye with a clear conscience. Then again, I don't really recall the last time I've let peer pressure alter my own opinion in a significant way.

I spent last night with a redhead on my lap... the more I petted her, the more she purred and she really got into giving me kisses as well. Too bad it was the furry feline kind of redhead, and not the hot and sexy humanoid version.

I just decided to block an entire IP range from accessing my blog, due to some recent changes in policy that went into effect. While I'm very much for open access, not all views expressed here may be as accepted as I'd like them to be, nor is everyone as open minded about certain ideas and opinions. It's one thing to think an Ogre is ugly as hell and tell people so when they ask you about it... and then there's picking up a stick and poking an Ogre while yelling "you're ugly"... which is just plain stupid.

Anyway, I doubt that you'll be affected by the block, but if you are and think you shouldn't be, feel free to let me know.

I saw a single post appear on April 1st, so I didn't really get my hopes up for a real return of Vixen, but today another post appeared at The Daily DildoA Month of Thursdays so I guess it's real : the one and only straight-to-the-point-and-nothing-less Vixen is really back and I'm totally happy about it. She disappeared from my radar for a couple of months (if not longer) when she started a new blog but I never removed the link to her RSS feed, hoping she'd return.

If the doctor recently prescribed you a frequent dose of sarcasm and political incorrectness, go check out A Month of Thursdays. I'm totally in love with her (style of writing, mind, humor,...)

I'm glad to see some people kinda of enjoyed my April Fools day blog post ;-) I know I had a ton of fun writing it and getting all the little details just right, which made my day(s) even before I posted it.

To be honest though, that post wasn't all fake and made up, nor was it as far fetched as some may. Sure, I don't own land in Canada, I don't live in a sphere in a tree, but as James Bond once said, never say never. I was definitely impressed by the Canadian outbacks when I briefly visited, and the thought of living in a sphere high up in a tree, as close to nature as possible while not leaving that much of a foot mark is something that does sound tempting somehow.

I just guess that F.O.O.L.E.D won't be there to help me realize all of that so if I want to accomplish things, I'll have to do them on my own.

I've kept quiet for quite a long time - I actually came very close to telling some people by accident - but now I can finally spill the beans : I'm moving.

It's not the blog that is moving, nor am I simply moving from one city to the next... I'm packing everything up and moving abroad, more specifically to Canada. Ever since I visited the country back in 2001 I've been impressed with the massive size of the forests and abundance of wildlife so a while ago I bought a 22 acre lot of land in Saint Paul (Kent County), New Brunswick. Photo's available here : Saint Paul, New Brunswick.

About three weeks ago construction workers have started building a cabin which will serve as a place to call home while I wait for Free Spirit Spheres to finish building and installing the first two spheres. I had hoped to be able to skip the cabin building cost but due to the cold during wintertime, a standard sphere is not up for the job - unless I want to use one as a freezer, lol - and they need quite some extra padding and insulation to withstand the harsh conditions. At the same time the presence of electricity and a cabin will make work progress much faster when we get to that point.